Ingenious Inkling

Vintage Car Valentine

I found a new to me blog called Cards for Men, and the challenge this week is to make a love or valentine-themed card for a man.

Well, for my Dad, nothing says love quite like vintage cars & a road trip.  Each time my Dad comes to visit me, a trip to Duffy's, the local vintage car showroom is always on the agenda ... and I love hearing all of the stories he tells me about the different makes and models of cars.  The soda pop lid paper also reminds me of sharing an ice cold soda with my Dad on Uncle Leonard's farm (there was a refrigerator on the back porch that was always stocked with our favorite flavors of bottled soda).

I made this card for my Dad using Tim Holtz Lost and Found papers and stamps from Artistic Outpost's Route 66 and the Ledger from the new Ephemeral Backgrounds (remember, to celebrate the new releases, you get 15% off your purchase at Artistic Outpost through February 14th if you use the code January2011 at checkout).

The images & sentiment were stamped on a blank page from a vintage scrapbook and the car was colored with Prismacolor Pencils that were blended with an art eraser (I love how it blends the pencil lines and allows me to vary the darkness of my coloring).  I finished with lots of distressing & inking on the edges.

Here's one of the photos from our vintage car outing at Thanksgiving.

I love the color of this car. 

Sing Out My Soul!

At a recent Estate Sale, I scored several old scrapbooks with beautifully aged pages.  One of the books was completely blank, so I used the paper as the canvas for this card.

Artistic Outpost's Musical Ephemeral Background was stamped repeatedly to cover the page.  Next, the birds with trombone & clarinet  from Songbirds were stamped in Dark Brown ink and colored with Prismacolor Pencils for the Simon Says Stamp Animal Antics Challenge ... it's like the birds are looking for someone to play the instruments while they sing.

The sentiment was stamped on the very aged edge of the paper to finish the design ... I really love the musical sentiments included in this set.

Iowa City Crafty Getaway

When Miss Iowa won my stamp giveaway earlier this month, she suggested we meet in person to deliver the box of goodies ... so instead of just meeting, we decided to plan a day of crafty goodness.  Since we couldn't be in California at CHA, we created our own crafty getaway right here in Iowa.

First stop was taking a peek at all of her wonderful ATCs she had on display at her home ... they are seriously even cooler in person than the photos on her blog.

Next we headed to Coralville for stops at Michael's, Hobby Lobby & Memories on Fifth.  One of our favorite finds was this fabulous new collection of Brenda Walton products at Michael's ... yes, we both added several packages to our creative stash.

After that, Miss Iowa treated to me lunch at one of her favorite spots ... Micky's Irish Pub ... and of course, I had what you'd expect someone to have at an Irish Pub ... Blackened Ahi Tuna Fajitas ... they were seriously delicious.  I never thought of combining Mexican spices with Tuna, but it was very yummy indeed.

We stopped at Defunct Books where used a Groupon to pick up a book called the International Biennial of Illustrations, which is full of fabulous art and design that will likely make its way into some fun cards and art journal pages.

When we were searching for one of our favorite card stores, RSVP, we stumbled upon a fun new store called Home Ec Workshop where we had a great time exploring all they have to offer and visiting with the owner.

Of course we also picked up some fun goodies like waxed linen thread in wonderful colors and some fabulous embroidery patterns from Sublime Stitching.  

There were so many great yarns to look at and touch (I'm a very tactile person ... I love art I can touch).

I loved this fun little bird cage full of fabric scraps (how cute is that little gnome pattern that snuck into the photo).

And they even had a fun little mascot on the fabric cutting table (oh how I wish I had a standing height island like this in my studio).

The classroom was buzzing with a group of people making some cool t-shirts.  They also have wonderful drinks and desserts that looked to-die-for like these caramel bars.

I want to see if I can fit one of their fun classes into my schedule, like this Resin Pendant Making Class.

All in all ... a very fun day.

Pocket Coloring Books

When I saw these fabulous Pocket Notebooks, I thought about how fun it would be to transform this concept into a Pocket Coloring Books for my nieces & nephews.  

I started by downloading lots of free coloring pages of their favorite things like ballerinas and princesses for the girls ... and cartoon characters, trains, and animals for the boys.  I used Word to re-size them to ATC dimensions (2.5" x 3.5") and printed them on white cardstock for added sturdiness.

I used images from the new Artistic Outpost Think & Wonder set for my Pocket Coloring Book Covers.

The first one was stamped on Webster's Pages DP.  I pulled in the color from the paper by coloring in several letters of the alphabet with Prismacolor Pencils.  I detail cut several butterflies from the remaining part of the paper and used a glue stick to attach them over the image.

I stamped the same image for the back and adhered them both to chipboard to add to the sturdiness of the book.  I finished by attaching the pages with a Binder Ring from the office supply store and added scraps of ribbon, including Outpost Attic Findings, to finish the design.

The second one has an image & sentiment from the set stamped on more Webster's Pages DP.  I punched tiny butterflies from the paper and added a number strip cut from the page along the bottom, which works for the ResQ Challenge to Get In Line.

Chipboard front & back and more fun textured ribbon, including some velvet ric-rac finish the design.

For my third Pocket Coloring Book, I stamped on more Webster's Pages DP and added another vertical strip of numbers to coordinate with the horizontal letters on the paper.

I added some boyish ribbons including twill and measuring tape to finish the design.

I'm entering these projects in the Tatertots & Jello Weekend Wrap-Up Party.

I found a perfectly-sized gift bag at Michaels, so I decorated it to hold these Pocket Coloring Books.

More Webster's Pages trimmed into a hand-drawn heart.  I finished with sentiments around the edges and a wonderful paper bloom.

This was such a fun project, especially finding free coloring pages on-line depicting each child's favorite things.  Now they will each have their own personalized little coloring book that's small enough to travel with them.

A Beautiful Story

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge was suggested by Holly (Toy) who said the fabulous designs at Rooms by Zoya B made her "squeal" (you've got check out her gorgeous inspired Nautical Birthday card). 

Unfortunately, I needed another sympathy card this week for a co-worker who lost his mother, but thankfully this beautiful Baudard Rug was the perfect inspiration I needed.  The color palette and floral design reminded me of one of my favorite paper collections ... Queen Bee by Pink Paislee ... which i think is perfect for sympathy card designs. 

I used this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch and a sentiment from JustRite's Thinking of You Borders and Centers (a great sympathy set).

I used a clear Pink Paislee Queen Bee border sticker along the top (you can see the flourish under the knot of the ribbon), but it didn't have quite the contrast I was hoping for against the darker background paper, so I added a wrap of sheer yellow ribbon.  I finished with some Memory Box adhesive Daffodil pearls at the corners.

I hope you find Inspiration.

Getting Sketchy With It

Today at the Jingle Belle blog we've got a rock-star Guest Star joining us ... the fabulous Amy Tsuruta of Tsuruta Designs and the fabulous Flashback Friday Challenge.  Amy is bringing our first Jingle Belles Sketch prompt.

 

So many possibilities with this great sketch.  I decided to use my Artistic Outpost Ephemeral Background Ledger image as a Christmas Tree background.  I stamped the ledger, punched out my tree, and added an adhesive pearl garland.  I paired my tree with wonderful Webster's Pages Papers & the Stampin' Up Top Note die cut (love that faux stitched border).

I finished with lots of ink sponging & a sentiment from Artistic Outpost's Snowy Woods.  Here's a close-up of my ledger tree.

So skip on over to Jingle Belles to see more fabulous sketch cards from Lauren & Amy and to create your own fabulous holiday card using Amy's sketch (and remember this is your last chance to get your name into the January prize drawing.

Flashback Friday Glitter

The Flashback Friday 7.0 challenge is to re-post the first card you ever made using glitter.   

This card was for a Mojo Monday Challenge waaaaay back on September 11, 2007 and featured glittery papers from DCWV. 

If you don't want to wait until the last minute to create your holiday cards this year, make sure you check out our Jingle Belles Prompt tomorrow ... pssst ... there will be a very special Guest Star you won't want to miss.

Thursday Link Love

Another fabulous week of blog finds:

• Love this adorable Valentine ... who wouldn't love a wagon full of puffy hearts??
• These gorgeous photos of seed catalogs made me reminisce about going through the flower bulb catalogs with my Grandma each winter and picking out the ones we were going to plant ... I think it's time to add more tulips to my flower beds.
• A wonderful newspaper dress ... a smaller version would be adorable on a card.
• Looking for Valentine ideas for friends or co-workers ... how about these fun Origami Heart Lollipops.
• I'm always on the look-out for Banana Bread recipes ... this one with a Streusel topping looks delicious.
• Fantastic book shelves ... wish I can room for more in my house.
• A free printable for an adorable little boy Valentine idea.
• Shrimp & Cheese Grits ... one of my all-time favorite meals ... and one I usually can only find when I travel south (my husband laughs because I eat grits at every restaurant we visit) ... maybe I'll try to make them myself.

Happy Thursday.

Three New Artistic Outpost Releases

Artistic Outpost is releasing three new collections today to get your creative juices flowing.  Ephemeral Backgrounds, Think & Wonder, and Songbirds are available in both unmounted and mounted & pre-trimmed (personally I love the trimmed sets because 1) I hate cutting rubber & 2)they come with a clear storage sheet that includes the images ... so great for laying over your card when planning a layout or placement).

Songbirds is filled with many beautiful vintage images and sentiments. I love the elegant lacy scrolled frame and the wonderful combination of instruments and songbirds.  The wonderful metronome reminds me of my years of piano lessons when I was young.

This card was created using an image and sentiment from the new Songbirds set and this week's CardPatterns sketch.  I combined charcoal and grey inks with the beautiful taupe papers from Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby line.  I finished with grey scrappers floss and a gorgeous metal flower brad from Dear Lizzy.  I just love the wonderful musical sentiments included in this set.

 

This card also works for the Vintage Bird Challenge at Friday Mash-up.

Ephemeral Backgrounds includes multiple vintage images that combine so wonderfully with all of the other Artistic Outpost images. This set includes postcard snippets, sheet music, and a large 3.75 x 5" antique ledger.

I had fun combining the Postcard Postmark with a wonderful vintage image I found in a scrapbook I purchased at an Estate Tag Sale.  The owner of the scrapbook had apparently spent quite a bit of time in the hospital during the 1940s and saved every single Get Well card she received.  I re-purposed some of the gorgeous flowers from one of the cards into this lovely postcard design.  I added one of the very fun sentiments form the Think & Wonder plate.

Think & Wonder features beautiful collages and adorable children, as well as some of our favorite Dr. Seuss quotes.

I thought the wonderful Cocoa image was perfect for making a Hot Chocolate Gift Pocket.  I measured my hot chocolate package, and then cut a strip from Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby paper several inches shorter than the package (I could have done the full height and used a circle punch at the top, but I loved how the foil from the package coordinated with the paper).  Next, I scored the strip about 1/2" wider than my package and ended with a 1" tab to fold over and attach the pocket together (similar to last week's Tea Bag pocket).  I used strong double-sided tape at the tab and the bottom to create the pocket.

I added the Postcard image down the side and a sentiment from the set at the bottom.  I finished with a wrap of chocolate twill ribbon.  I love how these images look stamped on designer papers.

For more fabulous examples using these new sets, make sure you stop by and visit the blogs of the other Artistic Outpost Design Team members:

Gerrie Johnnic

Lisa Somerville

Judy Hayes

Lynn Stevens

Barbara Washington

Suzanne Czosek

To celebrate these fabulous releases, Artistic Outpost is offering 15% off your entire purchase. Now through February 14th, use coupon code January2011 at checkout, and you will receive 15% off all items.

 

During This Difficult Time

I thought I'd try another sympathy card using this week's Get Sketchy! Sketch.  My sympathy card last night turned out to be a foreshadowing, because unfortunately I ended up needing several sympathy cards today.

This time I used this Inspiration Photo from Hero Arts as a jump start for my design.  I went through my paper collection grabbing various sheets of greens and turquoise and layering them until I found a pattern / color shade combination that made me happy.  The green is from DCWV Mariposa Collection and the teal/turquoise is from My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Collection (I love finding ways to combine papers from different companies).

I added a small Outline Bold Flourish (I picked it up at Michael's) that I adorned with some Teal Gemstones & finished with a sentiment from a great new sympathy set, With Sympathy.

I am loving the accuracy of my new Genesis Paper Trimmer (not to mention the light).  I am able to cut so precisely, that I trimmed those very tiny borders around my designer paper pieces.